Complications
by Felicia Danvers
Summary: Olivia was shocked when she found out about her partner's divorce, but she always figured he would talk to her when ready. Yet, the days drag by and he still doesn't say a word about it. Maybe it's time Olivia takes matters into her own hands.
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Law and Order: SVU or its characters; they belong to Dick Wolf.I do however own the small minor characters that do not appear on the show. I do not wish to make a profit off this fic, just some happy readers :)

**A/N:** Okay, this is my first fic, so do go easy. I know my summary sucked but hey, i tried. I will post the rest ASAP whether or not anyone reads. Do keep in mind that i don't know much about college and all its procedures, butI am once again, still trying. Also, although i love SVU, I don't know everything about the show, so i am probably going to tweak the show just a bit. Sorry if that upsets any of you die hard fans. Review if you want, please don't be mean, but construct criticism is welcome. Enjoy!

**CHAPTER ONE:**

_"What do we have here?"_

Olivia Benson approached the crime scene and glanced around casually. From the looks of it, Special Victims Unit had been on the scene at least 15 minutes. She ducked under the yellow tape closing off the alley and looked for a victim.

"Detective," M.E. Melinda Warner, the medical examiner on the scene, called to Olivia. Her long, straight, black hair was pulled back and she wore rubber gloves and a white lab coat.

"Here." She pointed down to the body, which was still being photographed and examined. Olivia walked over and flinched. The body was beaten to a bloody pulp and laid face down in the alleyway. Her clothes were tattered and ripped in some places. It belonged to a blonde-haired girl who looked no older than nineteen.

"From what I can tell, your victim was raped and beaten. However she probably died from asphyxiation," said Warner, pointing out the bruises and imprints on the victim's neck. "To add to that," Warner continued, "she suffered some trauma to the head, and has a couple broken ribs." She pointed to the girl's rib area which was swollen and purple with bruises. "She also had a broken wrist, and there was blood under the nails. We took some samples and sent them to the lab. I'm thinking this one defiantly fought back with a lot of force. Your perp must be really strong or heavyweight 'cuz she would've fought off you're average Joe in a heartbeat."

Olivia sighed. This was not an easy job and from the looks of it, this would be a difficult case. Putting away rapists and child molesters wasn't a stroll in the park. She looked back down at the body, dreading informing her parents of the tragedy.

"Do we have an I.D. on the body?"

"Stephanie Walker, age twenty, student at St. Francis College, probably has been dead about 7-8 hours. Gives you a time of death at around midnight or one," stated the M.E as she packed up her belongings and equipment. "I'm headed to the lab, if you have any more questions; you know where to find me."

As Melinda walked away, Olivia squatted to get one last look at the victim. She sighed once again and shook her head. How could anyone do such a deed to a girl who was barely an adult?

**X X X**

"Stephanie Walker, twenty years old, sophomore at St.Francis College in Brooklyn." Olivia explained to her partner, Elliot Stabler, her co-workers, Detectives John Munch and Odafin, or Fin, Tutuola, and her boss, Captain Don Cragen, as she hung up a picture of the victim on a white board. "Found beaten and raped in an alleyway. She fought back but wasn't successful. There was trauma to the head, ribs, and right wrist." She continued while hanging up pictures of the dead girl's injuries. "Best bet was he whacked her head and she went unconscious and he proceeded to rape her. She woke up, tried to fight him off, he broke her ribs and crushed her wrist trying to keep her down. There was some blood under the fingernails; it's at the lab now."

"Any leads on a Perp?" asked Cragen still looking at the board.

"Not yet, but Warner is doing more tests on the body as we speak," replied Munch.

"Is there anything that stands out about this girl? Like a tattoo, a piercing, a deformity, a race or background; anything that could give us some insight about our criminal?" Cragen asked with a little bit of firmness in his voice.

"Nope. Our victim is a white female with blonde hair and a clean record so far," stated Fin looking through a file.

Cragen rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Munch, Fin; I want you to head over to the school. Talk to the principle, teachers, even a roommate; get any information about this girl. See if you can find out who was with her last and where she was." The two detectives nodded. "Benson, Stabler; head over to the parent's house. Inform them of the death and see if they know anything. "

With that Olivia grabbed her jacket and walked out the door. She got in her car and waited for Elliot.

Already the two hadn't been off to a good start this morning. She knew he was still upset about his divorce but he was making it worse by keeping it all in. If he wanted to tell her she would be more than happy to listen. But still, he shrugged off the issue each time it was brought up. If he didn't want to talk about it, it was fine, but seeing her partner and best friend so uptight and distressed was really starting to get to her. She would just have to make him talk about it sooner or later. Sooner sounded better to her and she decided then and there that it would have to be tonight.

She broke out of her train of thought as Elliot open the car door and sat down in the passenger's seat. He slammed the door shut and pulled on his seatbelt without a word and an angry look on his face.

This was not what she had in mind for an early Tuesday morning.


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One

**CHAPTER TWO:**

"Well that went better than expected," stated Olivia after stepping outside of the Walker's house and into the warm New York air and bright sunlight for almost noon.

Elliot only nodded in response and kept his gaze straight ahead.

When they had told the parents about their daughter, both had been able to hold themselves together to give the detectives with some details. Olivia admired them for that; even though both were concerned about their daughter they still tried to help the detectives catch the guy so he couldn't hurt more innocent people. Not many people could do that as quickly as the Walkers did.

They had seen Stephanie last night at around six-thirty, when she stopped by after class for dinner. Apparently, it was a custom for Stephanie and her family to have dinner together every Friday night. Since she was an only child, it was just Stephanie and her parents. She left at about seven-fifteen, according to Mrs. Walker, because she had to go home to get ready to go out with her friends. Close to midnight, her friends called Mr. and Mrs. Walker, asking about Stephanie. Apparently she hadn't shown up that night and she didn't call, and then they became worried. Her parents thought she just decided to stay home and forgot to call. After that, neither of her parents could talk much more about the situation, and the detectives decided to let them have their peace.

Olivia shook her head and cursed silently. Now, not only were Stephanie's parents talking to her, but neither was her partner. Their conversation would definitely have to be soon.

**X X X**

"Stephanie was a sweet girl from what I knew. Then, again, she is one of the many students to have walked through our doors," stated Principal Nora Front, the principle of St.Francis College, as she led Munch and Fin into her office. "She did quite a lot of volunteer work and liked to help out at some of the hospitals around here. She was rather quiet and shy, but she always seemed to be with a loud crowd of friends."

"How 'bout her grades?" asked Fin preferring to stand while his partner took a seat.

"They were very decent, a top student in most of her classes. She was never a problem either, but that friend of hers, Kim Leahey, now she was quite the character. I don't know why they were friends; I never would have guessed it until I saw them talking together a couple days."

"Can you give us the room number of Stephanie? We'd like to search her room for any evidence," asked Munch as politely as he could. Nora went over to her computer and typed in something before returning to her desk.

"Sure, anything to help catch this guy," replied Nora as she wrote down the number on a piece of paper and handed it to Munch.

"Do you know if she has a roommate?" asked Munch getting up.

"Hang on," said Nora as she went back to her computer to check. She clicked her mouse a couple times and typed in some more before turning to the detectives. "Well, I guess I knew less about Stephanie as I thought." She turned back to the computer before giving the detectives a doubtful look. "Apparently she shared a room with Ms. Leahey."

**X X X**

Olivia decided on cornering Elliot before he left work that evening. If he wouldn't talk to her now, then she was going to ask Dr. George Huang, the Unit's Psychiatrist, to address him.

She decided to take the opportunity to do so when he got up to go get his belongings from his locker in the locker room. The only people left at the 1-6 besides them were Munch and Fin and they were just finishing up paperwork.

Olivia quickly got up and followed behind him. She placed her forearm on a locker and leaned against it, watching him and waiting for enough courage to finally confront Elliot.

"What do you want?" he asked after a couple of seconds. He didn't even bother to turn around.

"We need to talk," stated Olivia simply, coming closer.

"About..?"

"Your divorce."

This got his attention. He stopped searching, turned around and gave her a questioning glance. "What about it?" he asked without even the littlest hint of emotion.

"Elliot," she began trying to keep her cool, "you have been nothing but miserable for the past two weeks! You have barely said more than a sentence to me since Scarry announced it to the public! Talk to me Elliot, It'll help."

He sighed and shook his head before meeting her gaze again. "There's nothing _to_ talk about. Stop worrying about me, Olivia. I don't need you."

Olivia's jaw dropped about three feet. That last part had certainly hit her hard and she suddenly couldn't keep it in any longer.

"No, Elliot, I think you do need me," she replied, her voice raised just enough to let her anger have the better of her. "You just keep pushing me away! All I have ever done was try and be there for you through all this! If you would just talk to me-"

"I already told you," he cut in, raising his voice to a loud yell, "there's nothing to talk about!" He looked away form her then and lowered his voice a great deal, but it was still much of a yell. "You wouldn't know anyway."

By now Olivia was fuming. She spoke before considering her words in an attempt to just get him to talk to her.

"I might know, Elliot, if you would tell me what's been going on! Maybe I do know what you're going through if you'd just-"

The next thing she knew, Olivia found herself slammed up against the lockers and a sharp pain shot through her back. She closed her eyes and winced in pain. When she opened them again, she found herself staring into her partner's blue ones. However, the usual lightness and calm in them had been replaced with a dark cloudiness.

He had on the same look as he got when interrogating an 'un-cooperating suspect'. It was often able to make them break for fear of losing an arm or leg, or receiving a broken rib, but hell, it made Olivia want to scream for the sheer terror that her partner had finally gone off the deep end.

She managed to keep her scream in long enough to see the desperation and depression in his eyes. He had her pinned by her shoulders up against the lockers. She tried to lift a hand up to caress his cheek in an attempt to calm him a bit, but he grabbed her wrist and clenched it tightly. She let out a small yelp as he forced it hard against the locker, while keeping her pinned with the other hand.

"Don't tell me you know how I feel," he said through gritted teeth as he shoved her again against the locker. "You've never had anyone care about you. You and your pathetic relationships! They never last more than a month! Most of them don't even make it to a second date!" He was yelling again and Olivia felt herself on the edge of tears. "You've never had a family to care for you!" He leaned in so their faces were inches apart and whispered through his clenched jaw "You don't even know your father. All you had was your drunken mother, and she couldn't stand to look at you."

Olivia couldn't hold it in any longer. She felt her salty tears sting her cheeks as they flowed faster and faster down her face. How could her partner of six plus years say something that cruel? She knew he was going through a lot, but there was absolutely no reason for him to be like this; especially to her.

"Elliot," she began; her voice no more than an audible whisper. "I-I-" she stuttered trying to find her voice and the right words. She was still in complete shock over what he just said. Still silently crying, she tried again, "there was n-no reason for-"

And then his hand dropped her wrist and she thought he was regaining himself. But then he drew it back and struck her across the face. Hard.

She felt the throbbing pain of her jaw and tasted blood on the inside of her mouth. Although she was temporarily stunned, she was still able to see him draw his hand back and almost if by natural instinct she screamed.


	3. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter One

**A/N**: Just to get it across, I know Elliot isn't **THAT** cruel but I needed some conflict to work with and believe me there will definitely be some repercussions and answers for his outburst. Not trying to make Olivia heroic, just put her in a lot ofdifferent stressful situations.But, don't worry I'll return your normal Elliot back. Sorry for the upsets. Thanks for the reviews, glad you guys really like it.

**Chapter Three**:

At first, Munch and Fin thought nothing of Olivia and Elliot's arguments coming from the locker room. Actually, they started to humor the noisy couple, until they heard a loud banging noise.

It was the kind of loud banging noise that people around here normally relate the dented lockers to Elliot's fists to bloody knuckles. This caused both Munch and Fin to rise to their feet.

However the two just looked at each other, then shrugged it off, and sat back down to return to the last of their paperwork.

Moments later, although it was a never before heard sound to the detectives, both heard Olivia scream. They stared at each other, almost as if agreeing they really heard it and then took off towards the room in spilt-seconds.

**X X X**

"_What the hell happened to him?"_ thought Olivia, still pinned against the lockers. _"I mean I've seen him angry but this, this is just… I'm his partner and his best friend! I've got to do something before I...- no don't think negatively. Maybe I should try and get him to talk again..?"_

"Elliot," she whispered. "Elliot, listen. Get control of yourself."

_Smack._

Olivia let out a small groan. _"What is that five times now?"_ she thought as she felt cold blood trickle down her face.

"Stop please!" she tried to yell but it came out only a whisper. "I know you don't mean this." His hand went up and she winced at the sight.

"Elliot stop, I'm your partner, Olivia; your best friend!" she spit out. Her level of fear had reached its' peak and she wasn't sure she would ever get out of this situation.

Miraculously, His hand dropped to his side and his grip loosened. This darkness in his eyes was replaced by sheer terror. He removed his hand form her shoulder and stepped back, a look of panic written all over his face.

But, everything was getting more blurry by the second and Olivia started to feel woozy.

"_Oh, God,"_ she thought, _"I think I'm going to faint."_ And with that, she collapsed to the floor.

**X X X**

"Oh my God," whispered Elliot to himself. "What did I just do?" Never had he lost that much control. _"All she tried to do was help and you practically killed her!"_ shouted his conscience.

That's when she fell to the floor, almost lifeless looking. There was blood all over her face. There was also blood all over his hand. _"Her blood."_

And then Munch and Fin came running in.

**X X X**

"What the hell did you do to her!" yelled Fin. Munch's mouth just continued to stay dropped. "What the hell did she do to you!"

Elliot just stared at them, still panicked.

"Call a bus, I think she's unconscious!" yelled Fin to Munch. Munch ran to go use the telephone on his desk. Turning to Elliot he said, "Maybe Rickett was right." He shook his head in disgust and picked up Olivia, placing one arm around her knees and the other across her back. He started to walk out of the room with her, but stopped and turned to Elliot. Almost with an apologetic look he said, "Wait 'till the Captain gets a hold of this one."

**X X X**

The last few minutes had been distant to Elliot. Fin and Munch had come in. They yelled at him - well, Fin did anyway, and said something about her being unconscious.

"_Wow, you really blew it this time," _he thought.

He watched as Fin carried Olivia out the door but not before he heard Fin say, ""Wait 'till the Captain gets a hold of this one."

"_The Captain."_ Elliot stared down at his hands. His family, his job, his partner and best friend; he just ruined it all. And what if Olivia presses charges? _"I'll never see her again... Hell, I could be in jail. But that doesn't matter now. I'm a monster I deserve to be locked up forever." _He was about to punch the lockers but stopped. "Why can't I control myself!" he shouted to himself, "This is ridiculous!" He sat down on the bench in the middle of the room and put his head in his hands. _"I've got to make this right." _

**X X X**

_"Olivia…? Olivia…?" _Olivia blinked her eyes. Her head was throbbing and her jaw felt like it was hit with three hundred pounds of bricks. She found herself in blank room of white.

"Did I die?" she asked sitting up. She heard familiar chuckles to her right and look in the direction. Munch and Fin sat in two uncomfortable looking chairs. Getting up, the two wandered over to her beside.

"Good Morning, Liv" said Munch still smiling.

Olivia looked around her room and then down at herself. _"Shit."_

"I'm in a hospital!" she groaned.

Fin brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Yeah, Elliot really banged you up. You passed out before me and oh, Super Munch here could come to your rescue."

Munch shot him a dirty look. "Shut up, _Sidekick._"

"_Elliot."_ She remembered that cold darkness that overcame his eyes, and that pure look of rage on his face and shivered. _"Where is he?" _That was not something she should really be thinking. She shook her head. _"Why is it that he can beat the crap out of me and I still worry about him?"_

"The Captain is coming in soon. He wants to make sure you're alright," interrupted Fin.

"The Captain!" said Olivia, now hating herself. "No, he can't, Elliot will-"

"We didn't tell him what happened. That's up to you," interrupted and explained Munch.

"If I were you, I'd tell him. I don't care how much you're blaming yourself or how close you guys were, nobody deserves to get away with beating the crap outta you," said Fin coldly. "But we're shutting up." They grabbed their stuff and said goodbye, leaving Olivia alone.

She tried to comprehend what just went on, but it was so much to take in. _"Do I give him up to the Captain or keep my mouth shut?"_ Pondering what to do, Olivia fell into a deep sleep once again.

**X X X**

"Liv, hey Liv. Wake up."

Olivia groaned. _"I must've fallen asleep." _

"What?" she said, angry at whomever was waking her up. She didn't even bother to open her eyes.

"Liv, it's me."


	4. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One

**A/N:** Thanks once again for all the wonderful reviews I'm getting, guys, I appreciate it. Sorry this took so long to post- I had a hectic weekend. Also, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with the return of school, my chapters might start taking longer to post, such as this one. But I promise I'll still get them up as soon as I can.

Oh, and if you get the chance, check out E. Madden's fan fic, "Trust". He's a good friend of mine and after I read some of his story, I thought that you guys would like it. Since it's his first fic ever, he could use some reviews and a little encouragement. **;-)**

**Chapter Four:**

Olivia's eyes shot open and she once again found herself starring into her partner's blue eyes. She went to scream but he covered her mouth and put a finger to his lip. She took the time to realize that his eyes were light and calm, but his expression read that of a little boy's who just hit a baseball through his grouchy neighbor's window. He was scared.

"Liv, listen," he began. His eyes started to fill up with tears. "I know you know I didn't mean it but I-I- feel so…" He touched the stitches that formed a small line between her right eyebrow and ear. Olivia winced from his touch and remembered what he said to her. _"You don't even know your father. All you had was your drunken mother, and she couldn't stand to look at you."_ She felt tears return to her eyes. _"You've never had anyone care about you…!"_

Seeing her start to cry, Elliot grabbed her hand. "Liv, listen to me. I didn't mean to hurt you. I meant none of what I said. I just… Besides you know I care about you, more than anything."

Now, she had really had it. "If you're worried about your damn job, I'm not ratting on you." She couldn't tell if she was too afraid to face him or just angry she couldn't hold herself together any longer.

Elliot looked a little taken back. _"Maybe I overdid it just a bit," _Olivia thought and bit her lip, then sighed. "Look Elliot, this isn't the greatest time. You know I'm not just going to forget what you did and I'm not just going to get over it. What you said- what you said was really hurtful." She started to let her tears fall at this point. "I know you're upset over the whole divorce but that gave you no right to take it all out on me. Now please, go home, rest, God knows you need to, and we'll fix this another time."

Elliot looked at her with more understanding than hurt, and wiped a tear off her cheek. Then he sighed and got up to leave nonetheless. "Thanks for not being angry at me," he said softly at the doorway.

"I never said I wasn't angry, I'm just willing to work this out," she said and wiped her eyes. "I don't like to hold grudges, and I will certainly not hold one against my partner." She decided not to add 'best friend' at the time.

With that, he gave her a small smile and left. _"God, I hate him right now!"_ she thought. What he did was not forgivable- whatever the situation may be. However, this was Elliot Stabler, her partner for too many years to count, her best friend, the only family she had; and she was Olivia Benson, the only person who would try to forgive their best friend for beating them up and the only person that would still want that person just a close to her, if not closer.

Things were about to start getting complicated.

**X X X **

Don Cragen walked into the hospital room slowly. It was late and he wasn't happy to give up his sleep. However; one of his best detectives had been admitted into the hospital a couple hours earlier, and he was pretty sure he knew why.

According to her doctors, Olivia had a minor fracture in her jaw, she received about an inch of stitches between her right eyebrow and right ear, her nose was slightly swollen but no damage was done, but there were multiple bruises that lay scattered on the right side of her face. He looked at her sleeping form; she was a mess.

If he didn't know any better, he would say someone whacked her with a brick. His best bet right now was that Elliot was his brick-whacker.

"_But, why?" _he thought. Olivia started to stir and blink. Seconds later, she awoke. Her eyes looked red and puffy; either from lack of sleep or crying. They were full of mixed emotions and confusion. It was like she was trying to ask for help, or guidance, or anything to make her situation less confusing. She was _definitely_ a mess.

"Hey, Cap," she said sleepily, "How ya doing?"

Smiling, Don replied, "shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" That was his Olivia alright; always putting everyone before her. "You look pretty banged up."

"I'm fine, Captain, really," she stated obviously projecting more positive emotions than she felt. "I just, uh, really need to watch where I'm going, I guess."

Boy was she lying through her teeth. Don sighed. "Look Olivia, I don't know what went on. I don't want to know what went on. I'm pretty sure I have a clear idea, though. I trust you to make the right decision. I'm not gonna do anything about it unless you tell me to. So until further notice, I'm giving you tomorrow off to heal but I want you back by Thursday. If the doctor doesn't want you on the field then you're on desk duty until I say so, anyway."

Olivia groaned at this. "It's just a couple of bruises, Captain; I'll be fine, really!"

"I'm not putting you on desk duty because of your physical injuries. I'm doing this because of your emotional injuries. Now, I'd really like to get back to sleep. We're going to have a long day tomorrow."

"But Capt-"

"Goodnight Olivia," he said and left. Putting her on desk duty wasn't his best option but he wasn't sure he could trust her and Elliot out on the field together. _"Maybe I will just switch them up with Munch and Fin,"_ he thought. It couldn't hurt, but Elliot and Olivia were always great together. _"Boy, Elliot is a lucky man."_ I mean how often is it that you can beat the life out of your partner _and _best friend _and_ get away with it?

**X X X**

Elliot sat on an old couch in a dusty living room. It was cold and he was lonely. Since Kathy took the kids and left, he couldn't stand to be in the old house. That house full of so many memories.

So now he sat in his new apartment, boxes still around the room, dirty laundry on the floor, and trash that had yet to be taken out. He picked up his drink off the small coffee table and brought it to his lips. He savored the taste of the liquid as it went down his throat and thought to himself. _"She's in the hospital. She's in the hospital because of me. Because I'm a monster, because I can't let go, because I couldn't just talk to her, or to anyone."_ There were too many reasons to name- to even think of. "Damn," he said, finishing his drink. He put the bottle down, and glared at it. "I need another beer."

He started to get up and walk towards the kitchen, but stopped_. "I destroyed the only person that still cared for me, that believed in me, that trusted me,"_ he realized. She was all he had left to breathe for, to sleep for, and to live for.

And in the back of his mind there was that one thought that haunted him for hours, days, weeks and months.

"_This is all my fault"._


End file.
